WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan and a co-defendant lost another legal round at the Supreme Court on Tuesday and will remain in prison on federal racketeering and fraud convictions.

Ex-Gov. George Ryan walks out of a Chicago, Illinois, courthouse after his April 2006 conviction.

Ryan and businessman Larry Warner claimed they did not receive a fair trial, but the justices, without comment, refused to intervene in the case.

Justice John Paul Stevens refused last fall to grant bail for the 74-year-old Ryan, a move that would have kept him out of jail to file more appeals.

The disgraced ex-governor reported to a federal prison in Wisconsin in November to serve a 6˝-year sentence.

The men were convicted in April 2006 for fraud in a case stemming from bribes paid for various state licenses.

Their lawyers claimed the trial judge improperly removed two jurors while deliberations in the case had commenced, but a federal appeals court upheld the convictions.

Ryan, a Republican, served as governor from 1999 to 2003. He retired following investigations into political corruption in his administration.

He also was noted for issuing a moratorium on capital punishment in his state in 2000 over concerns innocent inmates might be executed.